South Africa’s MTN Group is close to signing an agreement to acquire a 49% interest in Iranian state-owned ISP Iranian Net. Bloomberg cites two people familiar with the matter who say that MTN representatives will meet with Iran’s ICT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi later this month to finalise the purchase. MTN already owns 49% of Iran’s second largest mobile provider by subscribers, MTN Irancell, and the acquisition of Iranian Net would further its ambitions in the fixed broadband sector. A potential tie-up between MTN and Iranian Net was first reported by local news portal Tech Rasa in October 2016.
Iranian Net is currently 80% state-owned, with the remainder held by private sector investors. It has been tasked with deploying fibre infrastructure in cities across the country under a four-year monopoly contract awarded in 2012, but it has failed to meet any of its rollout goals, reportedly due to a lack of capital.